Just wondering if Wes and Tom would have sustained their knee injuries on grass. Wes had a noncontact injury so I tend to think that he would not have been injuried on the old grass field at Gillette. Tom's may be a different story but I am not sure. I don't think this Stadium Turf is as good as they want to think it is because it saves the NFL owners lots of money.

I was at the game and from our seats you could clearly see the spots that had been replaced. I believe it was hitting one of those patches during a violent cut that caused Welker's injury. Here was Houston's spin on the event from chron.com if you are interested. www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/6802660.html

It wouldn't hurt to have some sort of standard for fields. Not all the same but Houston's tray system is hokey. I like a natural field, even one that is that is in bad shape as long as it's consistently bad from use and weather. When it's a synthetic material or a field that's put together by people there's no good reason for it to be in poor shape.

The new synthetic fields are supposed to be very good, better than the real thing. Astroturf died off years ago and synthetics now have the ability to break and give like real turf. I think most teams now figure the risk of injury of a bad field is not worth any "homefield advantage."

It wouldn't hurt to have some sort of standard for fields. Not all the same but Houston's tray system is hokey. I like a natural field, even one that is that is in bad shape as long as it's consistently bad from use and weather. When it's a synthetic material or a field that's put together by people there's no good reason for it to be in poor shape. The new synthetic fields are supposed to be very good, better than the real thing. Astroturf died off years ago and synthetics now have the ability to break and give like real turf. I think most teams now figure the risk of injury of a bad field is not worth any "homefield advantage."Posted by shenanigan

I've played on the newer synthetic fields, I would say that this material is almost better than the real thing most because everything can be consistent unlike dirt, also these fields are a lot easier on the knees that dirt (mainly of the frozen variety) can be when playing in the northeast.

In Response to Re: STADIUM TURF : I've played on the newer synthetic fields, I would say that this material is almost better than the real thing most because everything can be consistent unlike dirt, also these fields are a lot easier on the knees that dirt (mainly of the frozen variety) can be when playing in the northeast.Posted by thejoshuatree28

I've never been on the new stuff but I've heard it's very good. I think there's some people out there that think synthetic fields are astroturf-like.

Brady's injury was a helmet to the knee, Welkers was because he was playing in Houston on a beat up grass field not field turf, this is a non issue.Posted by m1r3d12

Wlekers injury came on some high quality grass.......

Though Belichick is complaining about the field, the players in the past haven't. In a 2004 NFL Players Association survey, players ranked Reliant Stadium as the fourth-best field in the NFL. Reliant Stadium is a retractable roof stadium that does not get enough sunlight to grow grass inside the stadium. They have a system of grass trays that they grow outside of the stadium and install prior to games. They have a large inventory of trays, so if one section gets particularly worn they have enough grass to replace it.

He cannot complain the patriots use to manipulate there field at the expense of there opponents weekly.

In Response to Re: STADIUM TURF : I've never been on the new stuff but I've heard it's very good. I think there's some people out there that think synthetic fields are astroturf-like.Posted by shenanigan

My understanding is that the new stuff gives a little more - more akin to real grass. Astroturf...is more like the putting green you see at the local run down putt putt....so, I think you're right.